Going All Out!
by IrieAdam
Summary: Sakura Kinomoto held a secret crush on Syaoran Li since middle school. She only decided to give up her feelings during their college years after she found out that he already had a girlfriend. And now, 25-year old Sakura, still boyfriend-less since birth, had been officially invited by her friends to enter the deflowering garden. What romantic-slash-chaotic adventures await her?
1. Chapter 1

**GOING ALL OUT!  
** Chapter 1

 _First note to self:_  
 _When love hurts, never stand in front of a computer monitor._  
 _The damage will go straight to your paycheck._

* * *

Sakura was a stalker.

Well, not exactly _that_ kind of stalker. Like any other human being, she was just a simple and curious lady who was very interested to know the happenings in a certain man's life. It was normal for man to hunger for knowledge. And in her case, she was just getting ready to have her eyes uncover the truth behind that man's real job and found—

"Nothing?" Sakura scrolled up and down the guy's profile page in FaceLook. She was a little dismayed to find no traces of what he was currently up to in any of his social media pages.

"What are you looking for, Sakura-chan?" Chiharu squeezed herself beside Sakura. She squealed as soon as she saw the guy's profile picture. "Hey! Isn't that the guy we saw at the—"

Sakura's fist punched through the computer's monitor in her panic.

"S-Sakura?" Chiharu sweatdropped. "What was that for?"

Sakura sheepishly scratched her cheek. "I wanted to, uhm...touch him?"

Chiharu stared shockingly at the huge hole at the center of the monitor, then back at Sakura. "...Looked more like you wanted to murder him. Why? Did he try something funny to you when we weren't looking?"

Sakura flushed red. "W-What?! NO! And I-I was looking at a different guy! That wasn't him!"

"Kinomoto-san!" Their supervisor came rushing in when she heard the noise. "What in the world's the matter with you?! That's the fourth monitor this month! This is going to your paycheck! AGAIN!"

Sakura drooped her face into her hands. She could already imagine her paycheck by the end of the month with a giant negative number shoved at her face and a very tiny phrase at the bottom that says, 'You're fired!'

 _Oh Kami-sama..._

Sakura had not been herself since that night. She made many mistakes at work and at home, SO many that she could no longer count them. Ever since Sakura met Syaoran again, her head had been spinning in a whirlpool of emotions.

She first met Syaoran in middle school. At that time, she was harboring a crush on Syaoran's friend, who later asked her to be his partner for their school dance. But on the night of the dance, she felt dejected when her crush left her to dance with another girl. She cried in the comfort room beside her friend Tomoyo, who was there to provide solace. When she got out, she was embarrassed to see Syaoran outside resting his back against the wall, as if waiting for someone. She put her head down and pretended not to notice him until he called out to her.

"K-Kinomoto-san! Would you like to dance?"

"Huh?"

"Your eyes... They look puffy," he worried.

Sakura became self-conscious when he noticed the state she was in. "I'm okay, really! If you're asking me to dance in your friend's place, please don't worry about it. I'll get over it soon."

"That's not it at all!" Syaoran sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "I, uh, I'd really like to dance with you. Maybe it could help put you at ease?"

Sakura felt her heart race when he reached out his hand to her. She didn't really understand if he wanted to dance with her because he liked to or if he was doing it out of pity. Even so, she wanted to hold onto the hope that maybe a nice and fluffy feeling could sprout out of it. And just when she was about to take his hand, she suddenly got a text from her brother who just arrived at the school to take her home.

Sakura groaned. _Great timing as always..._

She bowed her head at Syaoran. "Gomen! I would have loved to take your offer, but onii-chan's already here to pick me up."

"I... I see..." Syaoran looked taken aback at first, but he soon put up a smile. "Maybe we can do it next time?"

"S-Sure!"

"Take care then."

But there was never a next time.

Soon, they graduated from middle school and both have coincidentally entered the same high school. Unfortunately, as much as she had hoped, she never got a chance to talk to him like before again. And it was harder to get closer to him since girls from different levels flocked over him. He grew up to be more masculine than when she knew him in middle school. And despite his heaven-sent good looks, he was still the same kind-hearted man who held out his hand to her in the past. Her feelings for him bloomed even more. She always gazed at him longingly from afar, but that was it. There were a few encounters when the two of them met by chance along the school halls, during a field trip and even in a convenience store. But they had never uttered a word other than a simple 'hi'.

Sakura was starting to lose hope. She wanted to confess to him before their nearing graduation, but she was afraid of only being turned down. _'He easily forgot about me after that night,'_ was what she thought. So there was probably no chance she could find a place inside his heart.

Then, college came at last. She thought it was high time she should try and forget the feelings she developed for him. That _was_ her decision until she saw him again in a university event where he played his guitar together with his band.

 _He studies here?!_ she shrieked inside her thoughts.

All that excitement she felt before came rushing back to her. She felt like the same middle schooler again who realized her newfound love. This time, she was definitely going to find a chance to confess! And she wouldn't back down no matter what!—was what she confidently told herself until she found another and final reason to **give up**.

He had a girlfriend.

So _what_ did cause the present Sakura to become aware of her feelings for him again after so many years? Well, let's rewind to three weeks before...

 _Three weeks ago..._

"Sakura, when are you going to get yourself a boyfriend?"

The auburn haired girl almost choked in her food. "What's with the sudden question, Chiharu-chan?"

"Oh, nothing! I just suddenly remembered that you're boyfriend-less since birth."

Sakura turned beet red. "That's not really an issue... Maybe Kami-sama thinks now isn't the right time for me. Besides, I still have a chance to find someone until I'm forty-something." She took her glass of water and slowly drank to calm herself.

"You're going to remain a virgin until you're forty-something."

And water spat everywhere.

The poor young man who just arrived to take a seat with them was splashed with unknown liquid all over his face.

"I'll pretend I didn't know where that came from."

"I'm so very sorry, Yamazaki-senpai!"

"Why are you only taking your lunch now? Lunch break's going to end soon!" Chiharu lectured him.

"I didn't know Mihara-san cared about me so much." A fiery fist landed on Takashi's stomach out of nowhere. He drooped his face on the table, bending down in overwhelming pain.

When Sakura was new to the job, she would always worry about Takashi's unending days of torture, all thanks to his kouhai who was currently sitting beside him. But now, she just got used to it. There was no point in saving him if he was just going to repeat the same mistakes that caused him his suffering. He was a hopeless masochist.

"Sakura, I'm really worried for you!" Chiharu pouted. "You're going to miss on a young and exciting romantic adventure!"

Takashi suddenly held his head up at the interesting conversation. He magically became okay. "Oh? What's this about?"

"I was just talking to Sakura about how she's still a vir—"

Sakura panickingly shoved her hands in front of her colleague's face. "I don't think there's a need to always announce that."

"Ah! Were you going to say 'virgin'?"

Takashi's loud voice caused some people in the cafeteria to overhear him and stare at their group strangely. Sakura facepalmed so hard.

"Sakura, do you want me to beat him up?"

Sakura looked at Takashi in pity. "Forgive me, senpai..."

And Takashi once again returned to stooping back down on the table in insufferable pain.

"Since it's a Friday tomorrow, Akizuki-senpai invited us to hang out somewhere after work. You should come too!"

Sakura recalled her previous experience when Nakuru set her up in a goukon. "Chiharu-chan, you know I don't like going to goukons..."

Her friend waved her hand. "Oh, no, no, no. I wasn't talking about that. This time, she said she found a place we'll really like. You won't have to force yourself to hangout with the guys unlike in goukons."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "So the purpose remains the same. We are still going out to check on _guys_."

"That will depend on you if you want to check them out or not, if you know what I mean," Chiharu winked.

Sakura groaned. "This better be decent."

"Oh ho ho ho!"

Just that single sound of laughter that echoed in Sakura's ears made her tremble on what was about to come on the following day.

* * *

 _Oh, Kami-sama... Please shield my pure eyes!_

Sakura gulped as she dreaded the neon sign in front of the tall building.

"Welcome to Mucho Macho!" Nakuru announced to the girls.

As if the name of the bar wasn't suspicious enough, the building just had to be located in between two other establishments that looked like an invisible 'XXX' word was plastered on them. And to top it all, they were in the middle of the red light district!

 _'This is not what I had in mind!'_

Sakura tightened her embrace on Chiharu's arm with a face that pleaded for help. "Why did senpai bring us to this place?!"

Chiharu laughed at her friend's innocence. "Come on, Sakura! We haven't even started yet!"

"It will be all right, Sakura-chan," Rika comforted her. Apparently, Nakuru invited four more girls from their work to join their excursion into the deflowering garden.

"KYAAAAAAAA!" Sakura screamed as she covered her eyes from the blinding scene when they entered the bar.

Half-naked male bodies in strapping pants and black ribbon ties were scrambled everywhere! The bouncers, the baristas, the waiters, the hosts! And the dancers as they swayed their hips from side to side!

 _'Oh Kami-sama... My eyes!_

Every male in the area showed off their well-toned abs that all sparkled in sweat. Sakura felt like she was in a sweltering marketplace with nothing more than a bunch of eggplants for sale.

"WHAT THE HECK IS THIS PLACE?!"

Nakuru wrapped an arm around Sakura's shoulders. "This, my dear kouhai, is a woman's _Eden_."

Sakura yelped. She had to make a quick escape. She had no plans of losing her virginity in that awfully suspicious place! But before she could run for her life, Chiharu, who was initially aware of how Sakura would react once she discovered the place, had the help of the other girls to forcefully drag their panicking colleague back inside.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Later, the group of girls were finally escorted to their seats. The girls all gazed around as they squealed at every man they catch in sight. Sakura, on the other hand, couldn't enjoy herself at all as she trembled in her seat.

"Relax, Sakura! This place isn't what you think at all!" Chiharu could barely hold her laughter at the amusing look on Sakura's face. "This is kind of like a host club in a bar with some 'added service'."

Sakura grunted. "By 'added service', you meant the flinging eggplants."

All the girls laughed hysterically.

"Sakura! There are no flinging eggplants!" Chiharu laughed.

Nakuru swept a tear from her eye. "Oh, Kinomoto-san. You're such a cute little kid."

The nerve.

She was not a kid! Just having less experience with things like that does not make her a kid.

Rika looked around in curiosity. "I wonder if that's really sweat on their body or did they just put on some oil?" the ever so angelic Rika asked, much to Sakura's shock.

"It's probably some kind of oil. Makes them look dirtier and greasy." Chiharu grinned mischievously.

Sakura covered her face in utmost embarrassment. _'I can't believe we're having this kind of conversation...'_

"I'm going to start ordering drinks!" Nakuru told the girls.

"What do you like, Sakura-chan?" Rika asked.

"I'm not really familiar with this kind of stuff." Sakura shyly scratched her cheek. "Um, anything light, I guess?"

"Alright then!"

While waiting for their drinks, Sakura was fiddling nervously with her phone. She wasn't very comfortable in the place they were at. Oh, don't misunderstand! She, like the other girls, also had fantasies over this kind of thing. But to have countless shirtless guys with rock-hard abs swarming her entire range of sight all at the same time, it was something she couldn't handle—or at least, the blood flow in her nose couldn't handle.

"Oh!" Sakura was surprised to see her brother's name popup on the phone's screen. "I'll excuse myself for a bit. Have to answer this."

She brought the phone to her ear as she was looking around for a less noisy place in the bar. "Hello, nii-chan?"

"Oi, kaiju. Are you already out with your friends? What time are you coming home?"

"I'm not quite sure yet..."

"Want me to go pick you up?"

"NO!" Sakura squeaked when she realized just how defensive she sounded. She worried her brother might start questioning her. "No, I mean, I'm already an adult. I can manage myself."

Touya snorted on the phone. "Yeah, right. Say that to me once you get yourself a husband."

"What does getting a husband have to do with being an adult?!"

"You're still a clean woman."

 _'Clean woman?'_ Was he just referring to her virginity? What was it with people and her virginity these days? Couldn't they mind their own business?

"Can I start with a boyfriend at least?"

"Sure. But just make sure the boyfriend doesn't do anything funny before marriage or he won't see the light of day."

Sakura paused to think. "Does showing his half-naked body count as 'funny'?"

"I'll roast him half-dead."

She gulped. She now had more than enough reason to not let her brother pick her up or a mass murder might turn up in the morning news the next day.

"Akizuki-san can send me home. She has a car."

"Wait—What? Nakuru?!"

Apparently, Touya and Nakuru used to be in the same group of friends back in college. Sakura only found out when she got in the same company as Nakuru. For some reason, her brother always reacted whenever Nakuru's name was mentioned. Something told Sakura her brother experienced something very unpleasant during his days together with his classmate. And something also told her she shouldn't have mentioned Nakuru's name to him at all.

 _'Crap!'_

"Shit! Not her..." Sakura could hear her brother mumbling on the phone. "Don't tell me... ARE YOU IN THE RED LI—"

Sakura immediately hanged the phone before her brother could even complete his question. She quickly went to send a text message to her father that said:

 _'Hi otou-san! Can you do me a favor just for tonight, please? Could you restrain onii-chan from picking me up and lock him in his closet? I'll cook for you guys the whole next month! Thank youuuuu!'_

And in a mere second, she got a reply: _'Deal.'_

"Hoe... That was fast."

After the witty escape from her brother, she walked back to where her friends were. She saw from the distance that one of the hosts was already at the table serving their drinks. And when she finally got there and had a closer look at him, she immediately froze. She saw a familiar face with a familiar chestnut brown hair in an unfamiliar disheveled look. The host himself also stood flabbergasted when the two of them met eye to eye.

It was impossible. Her eyes were probably deceiving her. He couldn't be the same proper man whom she fell in love with and struggled so hard to forget. The only man she had ever truly fallen for couldn't possibly be in _a pair of strapping pants and a bow tie on top of a half-naked body._

When she found herself staring at his body with her mouth gaped wide open, she quickly shook her head back to her senses. She then felt the urge to confirm his identity.

Slowly, she opened her lips and called, "Li-ku—"

"So you're the lovely lady your friends call 'Sakura'!" Did that guy just intentionally cut her off? "Glad you're here to join us, hime-chan~"

"E-Eh?" Sakura suddenly feared the smile on his face that looked like it had a hidden murderous intent. "Ah! Ha ha... R-Right! That's me! I am Sakura! Ha. Ha." She kept laughing like an idiot until she found her seat beside Rika.

She never once raised her head while the shameless shirtless man was still at their table entertaining her friends with his flirtatious words and captivating voice that easily swooned the girls' hearts.

Sakura had to admit. She always knew Syaoran was hot but she never knew he could look so _sexy_. It was definitely a rare sight from someone whom she always knew to appear cool and collected.

 _'I want to enjoy this too!'_

But alas, she couldn't. Not when she could feel a pair of distant amber eyes continuously stabbing her on the back. If his stares were real knives, she would have probably been lying on the floor dead by now.

Unable to keep up with the pressure any longer, Sakura decided to excuse herself to the comfort room. She rushed to the sink and splashed some water on her face. She looked dreadfully at her reflection in the mirror as she kept convincing herself that it was not _him_. But how could she convince herself when he obviously looked back and recognized her as well!

She stayed there for a matter of minutes until she felt calmed. As soon as she got out, she saw a man in a jacket just on the opposite side standing against the wall. A very familiar face was slightly hidden under the hood.

 _'Oh, so he already decided to cover himself,'_ was what she thought until realization hit her. And she gulped.

She bent her head down, pretending not to notice the man as she walked ahead. Somehow, she oddly felt like they were repeating a very familiar scene from the past. Though this time, she really wanted to avoid him at all costs.

"Kinomoto-san, could you stop right there?"

Sakura yelped. He knew her name.

 _'Welp, it's him alright.'_

Syaoran's words fell on deaf ears as Sakura walked even faster. Unfortunately for her, the guy caught up and pulled her arm. She tightly closed her eyes when she felt her back pushed against the wall.

"Take my phone, my wallet, my clothes! Just please don't rape me!"

Syaoran raised an eyebrow. "Why the heck would I do that?!"

"Y-You're not mad that I saw you working here?"

"Well, I was a little put out... But that doesn't mean I will rape you! Why would you even think that?"

"How can I not? You're working in a den full of half-naked men pleasing women!"

Syaoran pulled his face and groaned. "This was supposed to be a one-time gig. I only agreed to help my friend when he wouldn't stop being persistent about it. And of all days, YOU just had to be here."

"Excuse me?!" Sakura crossed her arms and looked away. "Are you even sure this is a one-time gig? Because you sure looked like you were so used to entertaining my friends back there."

 _'Wait, Sakura! What are you doing?_

"I was only doing my job! It's not like I did it out of interest!"

"Yeah, right! Didn't look like that to me!"

 _'Stop it, Sakura! Why are you even arguing about this?'_

"Why do you care in the first place? We're not even close!"

Sakura felt her heart broken instantly by his words. He was right. She used to chase after a guy who had not once looked back after that night of their middle school dance. And she gave up many years after. But seeing him again that night made her recall everything she felt for him.

And it hurt.

"I always thought you were better than this, Li-kun. You're a disappointment."

Syaoran finally glared at her before releasing a heavy sigh. He was getting tired of trying to even argue his side of the story. "Fine. Since you're making this difficult for me..."

Sakura suddenly noticed him starting to unzip his jacket. "KYAAAAAA! W-W-What do you think you're doing?!"

After Syaoran removed his jacket, he slammed his hand against the wall, trapping Sakura. The auburn-haired woman shivered when she saw the stern look in his eyes. "You sounded like you're jealous since I haven't paid much attention to you back there. So I'm simply providing you a _special service_."

 _'W-W-Wait! No!'_

Sakura tightly closed her eyes. She could feel his warm breath trailing down her delicate neck. "L-Li-kun," her voice was shaken when his hand also began to touch her waist. "You're scaring me..."

"Isn't this what you wanted?" Syaoran whispered into her ear before giving it a soft nibble. His hand slowly crawled under her blouse, making Sakura let out a tiny whimper.

A small teardrop fell from Sakura's eye. _'This isn't how I wanted to be with him...'_ At that moment, she became scared of him.

Syaoran snapped out of it when he saw her softly crying. He quickly let her go and stepped back, realizing what he had just done. He covered his face as his back fell against the wall on the opposite side.

"Oh, God... I really messed up. I... I'm so sorry."

Sakura couldn't move an inch. Many surprising things quickly happened in that brief moment they were together. Her mind just went blank.

"It wasn't supposed to go like this," he muttered. "I just... I only wanted to ask you to keep my work here a secret. I'm really sorry. Everything went so haywire..."

Sakura wanted to tell him that it wasn't entirely his fault but her voice couldn't escape her lips. After all, she was also at fault for driving him into a corner with her continuous nagging.

"I promise."

Syaoran quickly looked up to her in surprise. "W-Wait... You promise? But what I did was just..."

Rather than giving a reply, Sakura simply wiped her tears and smiled. She started to move and walk back to her friends, not once looking back. Her face felt hot again as tears came running back down.

 _'I really still love him.'_

* * *

"What happened to your eyes?" Tomoyo cried out in her surprise when she saw her friends swollen, puffy eyes.

"This is nothing." Sakura gulped in another glass of coffee.

Tomoyo sweatdropped when she noticed the many empty glasses on Sakura's table. Her friend was probably chugging down all the coffee as if they were alcohol.

"Oh, Kami-sama! Sakura-chan, this is a coffee shop! Not a bar!"

 _A few moments later..._

"Have you calmed down now?"

Sakura sighed. "Yeah... Thanks, Tomo-chan."

The two girls were kicked out of the coffee shop a few moments ago after the store manager saw Sakura misbehaving like a drunk coffee drinker.

"This is the first time I saw anyone trying to get drunk from ice-cold coffee," Tomoyo remarked. "You're really something."

Sakura covered her beet red face in shame. "Please don't remind me."

They were both walking along the busy city streets that Saturday morning while trying to find someplace else where they could sit down and talk.

"So, about that text you sent yesterday. What was that about 'I can't forget him again'?"

"I saw him last night."

Tomoyo looked surprised. "Really? Where?"

Sakura suddenly froze. She remembered that she promised him she wouldn't tell anyone she saw him working in Mucho Macho.

Her face suddenly looked sick. _'That name sounds so gross no matter how many times I think about it.'_

"In a, uhm, forbidden place."

"Forbidden place?"

Sakura mentally slapped herself on the forehead. _'Way to go, Sakura! 'Forbidden place'... How very creative.'_

"It's, uh... a bit complicated."

Tomoyo chuckled. "Alright. So what happened?"

Sakura could feel her eyes swelling up in tears again after remembering the events that happened the night before. "Tomo-chan..."

"Eek!" Tomoyo panicked when she saw Sakura's nose starting to drip wet.

She pulled her friend's hand and quickly searched for the nearest shop available until she saw an ice cream shop with few people inside. Tomoyo bought a large cup for them to share while they talk about her friend's dilemma.

She handed out some tissues to Sakura and sat down. "Alright. So now, tell me what happened."

Sakura pouted as she was wiping her eyes and nose. "I don't think I will ever get a boyfriend."

Tomoyo couldn't help but laugh at her friend's exaggeration.

"Why did he have to show up last night! And right after I told myself I've completely forgotten him."

And she recalled him in that sexy half-nude getup. Plus he tried to 'almost' rape her! ...In a sort of sexy way. Then she realized, _'When did that ever become sexy?!'_

"NOOOO! I'm losing it!" Sakura drooped herself on the table.

"Okay. I'm starting to get confused. But the way I see it, I think you're a bit conflicted with your emotions."

"I want to forget him, Tomo-chan. Or I will really never fulfill my dream of raising a family, having kids, and living happily ever after with my future husband." Sakura sighed. Tomoyo covered her laughs with her handkerchief. "Why am I so stuck on him..."

"The question is: do you really want to be stuck on him?"

"I don't know... When I saw him last night, he was so... different. He also did things that sort of scared me," Sakura told Tomoyo, recalling how she was touched in places no man has ever touched her before.

Her friend became a bit concerned. "Did he do something to you?"

"N-No, of course not." Sakura became flustered as she scratched her cheek. She didn't want to raise any more issues. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm scared to know if he's still the same Li-kun I fell for many years ago. But it's probably impossible for him not to change. It's been years, after all." She laughed softly at herself with downcast eyes.

Tomoyo held both of her hands and smiled. "Sakura-chan, I just want you to be happy. Chase after your heart if that is what you really want, or let him go if it's only hurting you. But you just met him by chance yesterday anyway, so you probably have a smaller chance of seeing him again. Unless, of course, you decide to find a way to stalk him, which I doubt you'd do. Right, Sakura?"

Sakura was deep in thought. _'Stalk him...?'_

"R-Right?" Tomoyo nervously repeated her question. She felt like she had just contributed to a worrisome scheme.

Sakura smiled innocently. "Right."

* * *

 _Present day..._

"I hope this is the last time this happens, Kinomoto-san." Their company's branch manager told on her.

"Y-Yes!" Sakura bowed once more. "I'm really very sorry."

"If you have any issues outside work that you need to solve, then please feel free to take a few days off rather than releasing your pent-up emotions on our poor properties. And Akizuki-san—"

Nakuru became stiff when her name was called. "Yes, Terada-san?"

"Please refrain from bringing her to weird places."

The two girls gulped.

"I deeply apologize but I happened to overhear your conversation about your 'excursion' back then. I wouldn't want our young kouhai to be tainted with filthy thoughts."

Nakuru sweatdropped. "Y-Yes..."

After leaving the manager's office, the two girls let out a heavy sigh.

"Jeez, Kinomoto-san. Everyone still thinks you're a little kid."

"And I'm not one bit happy about it. I'm already twenty-five years old!"

Nakuru smiled softly. "I'm glad to see you back to your usual self. Everyone was worried about you after that night."

Sakura shyly scratched her cheek. "Was I really obvious?"

"After you broke four of our company's monitors, who wouldn't?"

"Ugh..."

Technically, she didn't really break the monitors on purpose. She was just a bit panicky, that's all.

The first one was broken when Sakura was looking for Syaoran's name in anything related to Mucho Macho. She confirmed Syaoran was telling the truth about his 'one-time gig' after she saw some kind of menu from the establishment that listed the services they provided and the men who personally entertained the ladies. She was relieved to find out that Syaoran's name wasn't there until she saw a blog post from probably one of their clients with a blurred picture of him dancing in front of a woman.

And so the monitor was cut in half.

The second one was broken when Chiharu was getting annoyed of Takashi's fabricated story on how she forced a kiss on him when she was drunk. Chiharu told Sakura to give her something to throw at Takashi to shut him up. Sakura just took whatever her hand caught on her table, unaware that she gave out her monitor. All was too late when Takashi was struck down, lying on the ground. He was sent to the hospital later that day. He was still alive. And when he returned to the office a few days later, he never teased Chiharu with Sakura beside her ever again.

That wasn't entirely her fault. But she did give the monitor so... she was probably to blame.

The third monitor was broken when she saw a video of Syaoran from back in their college days. He was apparently singing a duet with the girl from his old band. Sakura was in a fit of giggles as she was watching until she could no longer hold back and smashed the monitor by accident.

As for the fourth one... Well, it was what happened earlier that day that caused her a final warning from her manager.

"Looks like they're finally here," Nakuru suddenly said as she was looking down from the window. There she saw a man in glasses, who was accompanied by two other men. They walked out from a luxurious black car and headed towards the building.

Sakura stood beside her and took a peak as well. "Who are 'they'?"

"Hiiragizawa Enterprises. Seems like our company will be discussing on forming a contract with them."

"Is that a big name?"

Nakuru chuckled. "Oh, you've got a looooot to learn, kiddo."

Sakura couldn't understand. What did she have to do to make people realize that she was no longer a _kid_. She first stared at her chest, then at Nakuru's chest.

 _Oh Kami-sama, please help me grow my woman parts._

Later, as they were walking back to their work station, they saw the same group of men talking to their company's front lobby assistant. Chiharu waved at Sakura and called her over.

"Sakura, look! Look!"

"What is it?"

Chiharu pointed at the brown-haired guy with glasses in a suit. "Look at that guy. Recognize him?"

Sakura leaned a little more to the side to get a closer look at the guy Chiharu was talking about. She was a little unsure why her colleague seemed so interested in him until she heard his voice.

"I apologize that our president could not make himself available personally. But I assure you we can still proceed with the discussion at ease."

 _'That voice... It couldn't be!_

"Of course! It's very understandable. Hiiragizawa-san is a very busy man, after all."

"I'm glad," the man smiled.

"Let me escort you to our manager then."

When the group turned around to follow the assistant's lead, Sakura's eyes widened. She confirmed that he was the same guy she had been stalking in the internet in the past few weeks.

Syaoran suddenly froze when he also met her by surprise.

And they both gasped.

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

This is it for Chapter 1!

In case you're wondering what inspired me to write this new story... I'm actually a bit attached to Sakura's feelings and her long-time crush. It's exactly what I went through as well. Just imagine from grade school to college. Wow, right? It was hard to keep a secret crush on someone for so long and not able to confess to the person. Then when you finally gain the courage, you find out he's already going steady with someone else. And so on and so forth, bla bla bla :P

Also, regarding Mucho Macho (I can't help but laugh whenever I write this name)... I read an article on the trending cafes in Japan that cater to women. And yes, ladies and gentlemen. Muscle cafes exist! Don't believe me? Search for it in the web! I was pretty surprised as well (lol).

So yeah... Thanks for reading! I'll try to update when I can. I'm actually already in the middle of writing the second chapter. Thanks for the support and I hope you'll leave a review ^^


	2. Chapter 2

**GOING ALL OUT!  
** Chapter 2

 _Second note to self:_  
 _Never call a person early in the morning with an unregistered number._  
 _He might go wild Pokémon on you._

* * *

"Sakuraaa!" Chiharu ran towards her friend and hugged her arm. "Grabbing lunch?"

"Uh, yeah. I just thought to try out that new crepe place nearby."

"Sounds good! Wait for me, I'll just go get my purse."

"What about Yamazaki-senpai? You aren't going to eat with him?"

Chiharu paused for a moment, frozen just from hearing Yamazaki's name. When her face started glowing a little pink, she turned her head a bit to refrain Sakura from seeing her embarrassment. "I-I'll try to ask him if... if he wants to join."

Sakura smiled. "Yup!"

"In return..." Chiharu pulled Sakura's arm and looked at her intently. "You better explain to me what your relationship is with that guy from Hiiragizawa Enterprises. I saw you two flirting near the comfort room yesterday when they came."

This time, Sakura turned red. "E-Eh?!"

"I'll be waiting for your storyyyyy~" Chiharu teased as she happily skipped away.

"HOEEEEEE?!"

* * *

A while later, after the three colleagues had finally finished the obstacle of waiting in the long line of crepe enthusiasts in the nearby park, they managed to find a good sitting area where they could eat. And as much as Sakura wanted to enjoy her food in that lovely spot in the park, the awkward atmosphere between the other two people with her just wouldn't let her do so.

"This is fun." Yamazaki finally broke the silence. "Eating together with my murderer," he looked at Chiharu, "and her accomplice," he then looked at Sakura, "sure is nice. I feel very safe." He laughed nonchalantly.

Sakura laughed along awkwardly, remembering the time when she thoughtlessly gave Chiharu her computer monitor to throw at Yamazaki.

"It... It doesn't hurt anymore, right?" Chiharu shyly asked, fidgeting in her own seat.

"OUCH!"

She quickly stood from her seat in her panic, only to find out later that Yamazaki was only kidding. Irritated with his carefree attitude, she was getting her hands ready to strangle the life out of his neck until she sighed heavily and returned to her seat instead.

"Don't joke like that. I was worried," she pouted.

Yamazaki scratched his head as he let out a chuckle. "Gomen! Gomen!"

Sakura ate and laughed as she watched the funny exchanges between her two colleagues. Sometimes, they would argue, though it was usually only Chiharu who got mad. Sometimes, they would have a rare normal talk about everyday shenanigans. And sometimes, when there weren't many people around, they would exchange sweet glances and smile.

Their relationship looked really great (and funny) that Sakura often wondered why they hadn't started going out yet. She thought about how relationships bloom and come to fruition, and if there was a process to be had. She couldn't exactly know, most especially since she herself hadn't gone out with anyone yet... all because she was stuck up on that _one guy_.

"By the way, Sakura!" Chiharu cut in, interrupting her thoughts. "You promised to tell me about that guy."

Sakura quickly avoided her stare while scratching her cheeks. "D-Did I promise anything?"

"Oh, come on!" Her friend crossed her arms.

"Alright, alright!" Sakura sighed. "He's just someone from the same middle school, high school and college."

"Oh my gosh! That long!"

"Yes, so before you get any weird ideas, my answer is NO. We are not close in any way. And he is not the same guy from Mucho Macho."

"Wait... Mucho Macho?" Yamazaki stared at Chiharu unbelievingly. "You guys went there?!"

"Yeah, so?" Chiharu answered without interest.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why would I?"

Sakura tried to keep herself from laughing when she noticed Yamazaki crumbling to the ground as he was being swallowed by his self-pity and worries. She thought that he probably couldn't accept that he lost to a bunch of half-naked muscular men.

"Anyway, Sakura," Chiharu called, returning to their previous conversation, "it didn't look like you guys were _just_ friends when I saw you two back there."

"What do you mean?" Sakura was starting to sweat from her friend's intent glare. It didn't look like Chiharu was going to stop without hearing what she wanted to hear.

"I told you I saw you and _him_ outside the comfort room. You both looked so preoccupied with each other that I couldn't bother to interrupt and go in. And you were blushing so bad! I couldn't ask you about it yesterday since you were too engrossed with work after that. Not even Akizuki-san could bother you."

"It's not really what you think."

Chiharu grinned. "He was holding your hands."

"He just gave me something. For business matters."

"Ehh? 'Business matters', you say?" her friend smiled at her mischievously.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Yes!"

"Hmph. I don't believe it."

She dropped her head over her hands and let out a long and tired groan.

That other day, both Sakura and Syaoran were obviously surprised to see each other in the company she was working for. But they never uttered a word and handled their speechlessness like adults by simply greeting each other with a small bow of their heads.

Later that same day, after Sakura was done using the comfort room, she was then again surprised to see Syaoran coming out of the male's comfort room at the same time as well. She found it utterly incredible how they always found each other outside the comfort room. She planned to ignore him and pass by naturally when he suddenly called out to her.

"Kinomoto-san! Can I talk to you? Just for a short while."

Sakura was shaken for a bit, terrified that he might bring up the topic on his 'previous work'. "If you're worried about your job back then, I didn't tell anyone about it! I swear!"

Syaoran sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah, yeah... I know you wouldn't. You promised after all."

"Oh! I... I see..." She was slightly embarrassed when she saw his shy character. It was completely different from the 'Syaoran' she saw a few weeks back who had an unkempt hair and an unsightly getup. The 'Syaoran' she was facing now had his hair brushed back and wore glasses and a suit—definitely the complete opposite of before.

"After that night, my conscience wouldn't let me sleep. I felt really guilty for what happened. I've been thinking of ways to make it up to you but I didn't even know how to contact you."

Sakura was struck. "R-Really?—I-I-I mean! You don't have to worry about that!" She couldn't look at him in the eyes, not after what he had just said. She didn't know it worried him so much that he even wanted to reach out to her just to make it up to her. Her heart kept pounding that she felt like all the blood suddenly came rushing to her face. "Seriously, Li-kun. Let's put the past aside. I'm okay!"

"Are... Are you sure?"

When Sakura slowly looked up, she noticed the downhearted look on his face. It seemed like he wasn't very convinced of her answer. Seeing him like that made her want to hold him in her arms and assure him that she was fine... that she felt great just by seeing him that day. But of course, she couldn't do that.

Instead, she smiled warmly at him without any hint of wariness or worry. She wanted to make him feel okay.

"Yep, I'm sure. So please stop worrying, Li-kun. I'm fine!"

When Sakura noticed the time on her watch, she suddenly started to panic, remembering her deadlines for the day. She immediately excused herself and was about to run back to her work station when she was suddenly pulled on the arm.

"Li-kun?"

"At least keep this." Syaoran handed out his business card. "If you need help with anything anytime, just give me a message or a call."

"Li-kun, I told you—"

"Just—here!" Syaoran forced the card onto her hands. His brows furrowed as he felt unable to keep his calm composure. "T-Then, see you!"

Syaoran hurried to the other direction while covering his face. Despite his efforts to hide away his embarrassment, Sakura still managed to see through him because of how red his ears became. Her face flushed red as she held onto the business card that he practically shoved at her.

"Idiot Syaoran..."

* * *

Sakura spent her entire Saturday morning at home staring at the business card lying on her desk. At times, she would hold onto her phone and attempt to dial the number written on the card, but she would later withdraw and jump back down on her bed with a long and heavy sigh. She had no real reason to contact him nor the courage to even do so. She felt embarrassed thinking how she didn't want to take advantage of his kindness.

"But I want to see him again..." she muttered onto her pillow, her feet kicking against the bed as she flushed with excitement.

How her heart fluttered like a high school student again.

"Sakura?" her father's voice echoed through the closed door after he knocked a few times. "May I come in?"

"Yeah, sure!" After Fujitaka went inside, Sakura quickly hid the business card under her pillow. "Something you need, otou-san?"

"Well, yes... I have to go get the pots I pre-ordered from the flower shop but as you can see, my back isn't exactly cooperating with me right now," her father embarrassedly said as he was rubbing his back. "Your brother originally was supposed to help me but something came up at his work so I was hoping you could help instead."

"Yes, of course! Let me take care of carrying them! I'm a strong girl," Sakura boasted as she showed-off her non-existent arm muscles, to which her father laughed.

"Thanks, Sakura. In return, I'll treat you to lunch."

"Yaaaay!"

Soon after, Sakura got dressed and went to the flower shop together with her father. She had help from one of the shop's assistants to carry the pots and put them in the back of their car. As she was carrying the last pot to their car, she looked at her father who was walking beside her and felt the urge to ask him about the pots.

"By the way otou-san, I was wondering what these pots are for. Are you planning to grow flowers?"

"Ah, no... I guess I haven't told you yet, huh?" Fujitaka chuckled, embarrassed in his realization. "Your grandfather was finally released from the hospital just a few days ago."

"Really? That's great!"

"Yes, and he's immediately planning to go back to arranging flowers inside his home. I'm really worried, though, since I think he's forgetting that he's not so young anymore," he sighed. "So I told him that I'll go visit and help him tomorrow. He specifically requested these pots from this flower shop, since it was the same shop your mother used to visit. She did really love going to this place."

Sakura noticed the soft smile on her father's face at the mention of her mother who passed away a few years after her birth. She had vague memories of her since she was only three when her mother passed away. But she could tell that her mother had a very kind heart just from the smiles her father showed whenever he talked about her.

"Can I help too?" Sakura asked.

"Of course! But don't you have anything to do tomorrow?"

"I'm supposed to meet Tomoyo but I thought I'd like to see ojiisan, too. I haven't really seen him for a long time."

"Alright, but we'll have to wake up early tomorrow. It's a pretty long way to your grandfather's house after all."

"Hai!"

* * *

"This won't do..." Touya wiped the sweat off his forehead after he finished checking the car's engine. He earned black patches around his face and arms from tinkering the car. "Otou-san, you said the car was working fine yesterday?"

"Yes..."

"Did you hear any weird sounds?"

"I was with otou-san yesterday." Sakura came in the garage with two glasses of water for Touya and her father. "I didn't notice any weird sounds coming from the car. Still can't make it start?"

"Yeah. My guess would be the battery. I also already tried jump-starting it but still wouldn't work."

"Oh!" Fujitaka suddenly came to a realization. "I think the last time the battery was replaced was around four or five years ago."

Touya and Sakura first stared at each other then sighed as they watched their father letting out a nonchalant laugh while rubbing the back of his neck.

"The stores won't open 'til late morning," Touya noted. "It will also take some time to replace the battery. Still, I'll have to make sure first if the battery's really the culprit here."

"Then, we'll have to give up for today. I'll just call your grandfather and tell him we'll go visit next time."

Sakura felt dejected at the unfortunate news. And her grandfather even seemed so eager to plant some flowers after his recovery. She thought how sad and disappointed he might feel if their plans would be cancelled for the day.

"Um... I think there might still be a way," Sakura softly muttered as she was struggling to think otherwise. She had some sort of a plan, but she was not so sure if it was going to be the best plan.

"Oh?" Touya smirked. "What's the plan, kaiju?"

Sakura's face fumed when she noticed her brother trying to provoke her. "Just you wait and see!" And she quickly stormed off while her brother cried out an annoying 'goodluck' behind her back.

She reached for the card beneath the pillow on her bed and dialled the number on her phone. The edgy feeling in her heart was causing her thumb to shake above the "call" button on her phone. She was starting to have second thoughts of whether to call him or not. She never really thought of using that card but she couldn't think of anyone else to disturb that early in the morning. Besides, he was the one who told her to call him for _anything_ at _anytime_.

In the end, she tightly closed her eyes and let her thumb do the work.

And it rang...

"Hello?" a tired husky voice answered.

Sakura took a deep breath. "H-Hello?"

She heard the voice grunt into the phone. "Ugh... Who is this? Do you have any idea what time it is? It's only around five in the morning."

Sakura gulped. She knew calling at that time wasn't a very good idea.

"B-But—"

And his voice raised. "Just the heck do you want?!"

Sakura yelped in fear. "IT'S SAKURA!" she unconsciously screamed into the phone due to her nervousness.

"S-SAKURA?!"

She suddenly heard a loud thud and shouts of pain from the other line. The man she was talking to whimpered for a short while.

The long pause caused Sakura to worry. "Li-kun? Are you okay?"

"H-Hey, sorry about that..."

She sighed in relief when Syaoran finally sounded normal and less grumpy. "Sorry for calling you so early. I've probably disturbed your sleep."

"It's no problem at all! I just thought you were a spam caller. I mean, your number isn't registered yet so, uh... yeah..."

Note to self: Never call Syaoran at five in the morning when your phone number is not yet registered.

"A-Anyway, so uh... what's up? You know, I never really thought you'd call. I kept thinking after that day that you probably thought I was acting weird."

"No, not at all!" Sakura paused and thought for a while. "Well, maybe a little bit..."

"Oh, god..." she heard him groan. "That was really embarrassing."

"But it's okay! I completely understand! Meeting again so suddenly after the, uhm, that night was pretty awkward after all."

"Right..." Syaoran laughed awkwardly before falling into silence. "Sorry."

Sakura blushed at the faintness of his voice, making her remember what happened that eventful night. She felt embarrassed with his sincerity and complete stubbornness in repeatedly asking for forgiveness. "I'm sorry, too."

"Yeah..."

"Mm..."

The two of them fell silent for a while. They could only hear each other's faint breaths as they both contemplated on how that previous night ended.

"Anyway, since you called, does that mean you needed my help?" Syaoran finally spoke, wanting to end the unpleasant air around them.

"Oh, right!" Sakura quickly remembered her real purpose for the call.

"So, what can I do for you?"

She took in a deep breath and hoped she wouldn't regret what she was about to say. "Do you have a car?"

"Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"This might be too much for me to ask of you but could you let us borrow it just for today?"

"Hmm..."

"I-It's okay if you won't agree to it!" Sakura quickly added. She felt absolutely embarrassed for even trying to request such a thing. "I'll understand, really! After all, I know it's not easy to let a stranger borrow it all of a sudden."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Syaoran laughed. "You're no stranger."

"Oh..." Sakura felt a bit happy to hear that from him.

"What do you need it for?"

"My family was supposed to bring some flower pots over to ojiisan's house but our car suddenly broke down."

"I see..."

Sakura was starting to get nervous. The other line was quiet. Too quiet. Was it really a dumb idea for her to be calling him just to borrow his car? And from a guy she was barely friends with?

She once again smacked herself on the face. _'Sakura, you're an idiot!'_

"Where are you guys right now?"

"H-Huh?" Sakura was dumbstruck for a while before answering, "At our house."

"What's the address?"

She shared their house address with him and ought to describe what the house looked like for his reference. "It's a two-story yellow house with a dark blue-colored roof."

"Okay, got it."

Sakura couldn't believe what she was hearing. She was too lost for words.

"I'll just go take a quick shower then I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Okay." Her voice was quiet. She still couldn't believe he was going along with her request. "Li-kun, you're really coming?"

"Yeah, you said you needed help after all. I'll try to be quick."

"Okay."

"See you later then."

"Okay."

"Bye!"

"Bye..."

After the call ended, Sakura stood speechless with her mind hanging in the air. And just when she was finally able to process everything that had just happened, a rosy blush color filled her face. She kept jumping in her room with joy as she kept repeating to herself, _'He's coming!'_

She rushed back downstairs to their garage to announce the good news. She was so excited that she almost tripped down until her face met her brother's back, causing Touya to spill some of the water he was drinking on his shirt.

"What the—"

"I found help!"

"Huuuh?" Touya stared at her unbelievably making her stick out her tongue at him.

"I managed to find someone who has a car and he's kind enough to let us borrow it!"

"That's great, Sakura. But is he really okay with that?" Her father looked worried.

"He said it's okay," she smiled. "He's even coming over right now."

"That sounds too suspicious," Touya remarked making Sakura glare at him. "Only a guy with hidden personal intentions would want to help out so early in the morning. And to even go so far as to lend a car."

"You're just too pessimistic," Sakura retorted. "Li-kun isn't like that!"

"Li?" Touya rubbed his chin, pretending to be deep in thought. "How come that name sounded so familiar." He then sneered at his dear sister.

Sakura blushed deeply before punching his brother in the arm. "You know nothing, baka!"

 _About an hour later..._

"So you really came."

Touya gave the shivering young chestnut-haired man an intense glare, studying him very carefully from head to toe.

"Thanks for coming over to help." Touya bowed and showed a small but aggravating smile.

"Y-You're welcome..."

Syaoran just recently arrived at the Kinomoto residence about an hour since his last call with Sakura. He brought with him a black SUV, which had just enough room for the pots in the trunk of the car. As soon as he arrived and stepped out of the car, he was surprised to be first greeted by a guy he wouldn't dare look in the eyes, scared that he might end up lifeless later in the middle of the street.

"Nii-chan, stop it! You're scaring him!" Sakura came rushing out of the house as soon as she saw them together. She quickly pushed Touya away, giving her room to greet Syaoran properly. "Thanks so much for coming over to help!" she said and bowed. "You really saved us today!"

Syaoran swiftly shook his hands, blushing. "It's the least I could do."

"Is that Li-san?" Fujitaka followed after he was just done getting the pots ready. "Sakura told us you were willing to lend your car. Thank you so much for helping out."

"It's nothing really! Anything to repay Kinomoto-san's kindness."

Everyone stared at Syaoran at his mention of the Kinomoto name.

"I-I meant your daughter!" he quickly added, realizing what he just did.

Fujitaka chuckled. "I see. It's nice to know that Sakura has many friends she can rely on."

Sakura and Syaoran took a quick glance at each other and swiftly looked away, their faces slightly red. She couldn't exactly call Syaoran a friend, or at least she thought that their relationship wasn't at that level just yet.

"By the way, if you wouldn't mind, I was actually thinking of driving you to where you need to go."

The Kinomoto family looked at him surprisingly.

"Maybe he doesn't trust that we would bring his car back in one piece," Touya whispered to his sister. And his sister answered him with a swift elbow on his stomach.

"But Li-kun, is that okay?"

Syaoran sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't really have much to do today. And I thought you might need an extra hand, so..."

"That would be great!" Fujitaka cheerfully smiled. "Any form of help is truly appreciated, thank you. Then maybe we could start by taking the pots to your car?"

"Ah, yes! I'll help carry them."

"Yes, please! It would help my back a lot," Fujitaka shyly admitted with a small laugh.

Syaoran was just about to follow after Fujitaka and Touya when he suddenly felt a tug on the sleeve of his shirt.

"Li-kun," Sakura called quietly, "if this is about trying to repay me—"

"Ah, no! It's not like that! This time, I just want to help, really," Syaoran smiled to reassure her. "Don't worry about it."

"Okay..."

After she had let him go, she remained quiet in her place as she watched his back going farther away. She didn't intend to keep him all day but the sudden turn of events said otherwise. She honestly felt happy to know that she could be with Syaoran the entire day, but there was a feeling in her heart that told her something was off.

She suddenly remembered what her brother told her earlier... about the probability of hidden intentions.

 _'What are you doing, Li-kun...'_

* * *

"Alright! I'm finally done!" Sakura was happy to finish planting the last few flowers into the last pot.

On the other hand, she looked behind her and saw Syaoran being lectured by her grandfather for making even the smallest mistakes when he was transplanting some of the flowers from the garden to the pots. He wouldn't go easy on the young man ever since he heard from Touya that Syaoran used to be Sakura's childhood crush. Sakura felt relieved to know that Syaoran wasn't around at the time her brother exposed her secret or she wouldn't know how to face him since she couldn't admit that Syaoran wasn't just any childhood crush.

He was her one-sided love that lasted for years.

After Masaki was done with his lectures, Syaoran was walking back to the garden feeling dejected as he scratched his head. He was later surprised by the shocking cold that brushed against his cheek.

"Juice?" Sakura smiled and gave him a glass of ice-cold orange juice.

"Thanks, Kinomoto-san."

"Don't worry about ojiisan! He's really kind. But he does get a bit grumpy from time to time as he got older."

To Sakura's pleasure, Syaoran finally laughed. "Yeah, got it."

The entire day, the Kinomoto family, together with Syaoran's help, managed to plant the flowers from the mansion's garden courtyard into all the pots they brought with them. It was a request from Sakura's grandfather who couldn't move as much as he did before due to his weakening body. Because he couldn't go out as much anymore, he wanted to see at least some of the flowers inside his house whenever he moves around.

Syaoran stretched out his hands to their full extent. "I can't believe we're finally done!"

"Yeah, and to think we did almost all of the work."

"Can't be helped," he shrugged. "Fujitaka-san and Touya-san were asked to fix some other things around the mansion."

Sakura stared at him wide-eyed. Since when did he ever start calling her family by their first names? And yet he still kept calling her 'Kinomoto-san' despite having known each other since middle school.

"Hmph," she quietly pouted while facing the other side.

"Kinomoto-san?"

"Yes, _Syaoran_?"

Syaoran was a little shocked with what he heard. At first, he couldn't really understand the sudden change in her mood until he finally read the atmosphere and burst out into a fit of laughter.

"What are you laughing about?"

He swept a tear from his eye and smiled at her playfully. "Nothing much, _Sakura~_ "

The auburn-haired girl went completely red.

"You could have just said that's what you wanted, baka." He flicked a finger on her forehead.

"Ouch!" Sakura rubbed her forehead and glared at him. "I didn't really want it."

"Oh? Would you prefer I call you 'Kinomoto-san' again?"

Sakura struggled with herself, not wanting to admit her selfish desires. "Do what you want."

"Then, Sakura it is."

He followed after her to the wooden bench in the courtyard and sat beside her. They stayed beside each other in peace and silence as they watched the water fountain in front of them endlessly flowing while the sun started to make exchanges with the night sky.

"Is it really okay?" Syaoran suddenly asked.

"What's okay?"

"To call you by your first name? We've known each other since middle school after all."

"But..." Sakura fell silent for a bit. She then looked towards Syaoran's direction. "Are we close, Li-kun?"

Syaoran also looked in her direction and smiled. "We can start to be."

"I see..." A soft and innocent smile gradually showed on her face. She looked down on her lap as her cheeks tinted a light pink blush. "That sounds good."

"You can start calling me by my first name, too."

"Just to be fair?"

Syaoran chuckled. "Just to be fair."

Sakura suddenly stood up and stretched her arms upward. She felt like she was able to release a big burden from her heart. She felt pleased and overjoyed that she finally managed to climb through a high wall.

"I feel like I've seen a lot of Syaorans in just this one month."

"Oh?" he asked as she piqued his interest. "What kind of Syaorans?"

"You know how Pokémons evolve?"

"Lol. Suddenly it's about Pokémon?"

Sakura felt embarrassed. "Just listen."

"Okay, fine."

"Most Pokémons start out cute and innocent, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then, they evolve into more powerful and scarier creatures."

She heard him laugh a bit. "Okay, go on."

"But you're the complete opposite."

"Huh?" he was suddenly dumbstruck.

"I first saw you in Mucho Macho as some kind of wild Pokémon in his final stage. You looked like you were finally able to unleash the beast in you. You know, the crazy kind."

"What?! What the heck are you trying to—"

"Then, I saw you again in our office. You looked more mature and more refined. That's your previous stage."

Syaoran rolled his eyes and groaned. He couldn't tell what she had to say next.

"Then, I meet you again here... in your baby stage. Kind, innocent, and sweet. The same traits of a baby Pokémon who just met his partner for life." Sakura lightly chuckled at the thought. "I kind of like it that you're the type of Pokémon who devolved. I got to see that baby stage much longer compared to your previous stages."

Syaoran stared at her, too awestruck for words. He found her way of comparing him to a Pokémon really funny, but the lovely meaning behind it in the end was all worth it.

"I... might evolve again, you know."

"Then, I'll just have to tame you as your master."

"You're my master now?"

"It's the Pokémon! Just the Pokémon talk!"

Syaoran laughed hard at her embarrassed face. He later wondered if she ever realized the other possible interpretation in what she had just said—about him being a Pokémon and her being his master and partner for life.

He chuckled at the thought and muttered, "That would be interesting."

"Huh? Did you say anything?"

Syaoran stood from his seat and walked ahead, smiling to himself.

"Nothing!"

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

You're probably wondering... "Why is Masaki Sakura's grandfather? Isn't he her 'great-grandfather'?" In the manga, yes, that is the case. But in the English dub of the anime adaptation, Masaki is considered her grandfather. I ought to use the concept of the latter since being her "great-grandfather" in this story's timeline might make him too old for the story. So just to be safe, he is now her grandfather.

Any more questions? Ask away! Just make sure to use an FF account or I won't be able to reply. And thanks for the kind reviews for the previous chapter! Hope you'll also like this one!


	3. Chapter 3

**GOING ALL OUT!  
** Chapter 3

 _Third note to self:  
_ _Returning favors can be a gift of God if it's for a special someone...  
_ _Or a curse from hell if it's for a man named Daisuke_

* * *

 _A month ago..._

"When in front of a client, don't forget to smile. Even if she's being difficult."

"Got it."

"Give 'em that hot wink we practiced earlier. The girls will really love that. I'm a guy, but even I melted when you did that. Haha."

"Oh God..."

"And oh! Right... I know you're a woman magnet and all, but I hope you don't forget that there's always a thin line between a host and his client."

"Daisuke..."

"You can't bring your clients home. And you are definitely not allowed to have se—"

"Daisuke!" Syaoran finally shouted, rubbing his temples. "What kind of person do you think I am?"

"A gigolo?"

"I won't do **that**!"

The man with the shoulder length blonde hair in a low ponytail and a suit unbuttoned up to near his chest shrugged and nonchalantly returned to waxing Syaoran's hair. "Maybe not now. But you used to play around a lot. I'm just worried for our customers."

"God... Are you serious? That was all in the past! When I was a little bit... not myself..." Syaoran then walked to the standing mirror in the dressing room and turned red as he stared at a reflection of his unkempt look while wearing a black ribbon tie and a pair of black pants. "And what the hell's with this 'uniform'? Why do I have to be freaking shirtless?"

"Didn't you see all the other guys out here? Everyone's dressed like that."

"This is what you call _dressed_?"

"Last time, I looked, yes."

Syaoran folded his arms. "Then why aren't you dressed like this?"

"Uh, duh? I'm the manager," Daisuke said it matter-of-factly. "Anyway, you got good abs. And you should share those good-looking abs."

The shirtless guy pulled his face. "Oh, God... Why do I feel a bit disgusted hearing this from you..."

"I'm just stating facts," his friend teased with a smirk.

"Can't I just take the bartender job?"

Daisuke raised an eyebrow. "Why the bartender?"

"So I could at least hide behind the counter."

"Right," he snorted. "You'll still be shirtless either way. And stop complaining. You won't have to worry since I haven't told anyone your real name. And it's only for one night. This job is basically your punishment for flirting with my ex, and you returning the favor since I forgave you."

"Hey! She was the one who came on to me. And I was drunk!" Syaoran griped. He remembered the night after a tiring day from work when he and Eriol were invited to hang out with Daisuke, who was their old friend from the same university. Syaoran thought they were going to spend the night with just the three of them until he saw a girl sitting right next to Daisuke when he and Eriol arrived to the bar together. He apparently overdid himself and got too drunk, so he decided to go out for a bit for some fresh air. Unbeknownst to him, the girl followed far behind him with intentions he never expected.

He thought she was loyal to Daisuke with the way she praised her boyfriend and acted all cuddly with him while they were having drinks inside. But his opinion of her changed when he was brought out of his drunken state with a forced kiss on the lips. He only realized that his lips were already being 'sexually harrassed' after a drunk and wobbly Daisuke caught on to them, unfortunately. Daisuke was supposed to slap the girl in his anger, but rather than slapping the girl, his wobbly feet caused him to slip and accidentally land a heavy hand on Syaoran's face instead.

Daisuke and his girlfriend broke up the next day.

"Why am I getting punished again for something I didn't even do?" Syaoran kept complaining as he was being pushed by Daisuke towards the door. "What you did to my face was already enough. And it hasn't even fully healed yet!"

"I already put enough makeup to cover it. And it's not just about my ex. I'm also punishing you for your God-given looks."

"What?!"

The door opened, and Daisuke gestured his hand to the exit. "Ready to shine, Mr. Host?"

Syaoran rolled his eyes and groaned. "Let's just get this over with."

* * *

"Crap. I don't think I can keep doing this," Syaoran muttered darkly as he was hiding in the corner of the backroom. He couldn't help but cringe as he remembered all the fake smiles and forced 'seductive' gestures he had to make for the sake of his cursed job.

The blonde manager crouched down to his level. "C'mon, man. You're doing a pretty good job for your first time. Girls are starting to pour in after word of the appearance of a mysterious nameless host!"

"That doesn't really make me feel any better," Syaoran said surly. "And by the way, mind telling me why _he_ is here?" He pointed at the tall man with dark-blue hair, a pair of silver-framed spectacles atop his handsomely sharp nose, and a black tailored business suit standing on the other corner of the room.

Daisuke guiltily scratched his head. "Uh... about that..."

"In exchange for letting you off early from work today, I asked Daisuke to let me take a peak of the new you," Eriol answered instead with a good-natured smile. "And that was a pretty cute 'sexy' dance, Syaoran. Your client looked very satisfied," he teasingly said, followed after with a soft laugh.

Syaoran grumbled. "So you were watching..."

"Of course. It was good entertainment." Eriol approached Syaoran and fixed the black bowtie around his neck. "You were a natural, by the way. You sure you don't want this as a part-time job?"

He clicked his tongue. "Bastard."

"I think you're forgetting that I'm your boss."

"Before you became my boss, you're originally my friend, you traitor," Syaoran made a quick retort. He couldn't believe Eriol made a deal with Daisuke behind his back.

Eriol smiled smugly at him and shrugged. "Good point."

"Daisuke-san?" One of the half-naked hosts peeked into the room. "A new group of ladies requested the service of mister 'anon'."

" _'Anon'_?" Syaoran asked Daisuke.

" _'Anonymous'._ He's referring to you. You're a nameless host, remember?"

Eriol made a low whistle. "Wow. You're becoming quite popular."

Syaoran felt more irritated after seeing Eriol's conceited smile. "You better make sure no word of my name AND this night goes out."

* * *

"Hey, ladies," Syaoran greeted with another forced yet lovely smile as he was approaching his new clients. His jaw was definitely going to cramp from smiling all night. "How are you all doing?"

"Oh my gosh. Look at 'em muscles!"

"Looks like the ad's true! He's totally hot!"

A few drops of sweat fell from Syaoran's forehead after overhearing the girls' embarrassing mutters and giggles.

 _'What ad are they talking about?'_ he suddenly thought as he took a seat with them.

"So, mystery man, how should I and my friends call you?" the long brown-haired lady asked him. She looked like the leader of their group with that amorous but intimidating stare. "We were told you don't bear any name."

"You can call me any way you want, miss—"

"Just call me Nakuru," she winked.

"Then, Nakuru-san," he greeted with a smile.

The other girls shrieked as they watched him giving Nakuru a gentle kiss on the hand.

Chiharu, another girl in the group with brown hair in a side-ponytail, sat next to him. "Anon-san!—is it okay to call you that? I heard the other hosts refer to you that way—is it true what they said in the ad? That you'll only be here today?"

"I'm sorry... _Ad_?"

"Akizuki-san saw it in the shop's FaceLook page a few days ago. Something about a special limited-time service."

"I... I see." Syaoran could feel his veins popping in his fury as he was putting up a smile. "I _didn't_ know they already put up an advertisement about me. No wonder I'm seeing so many beautiful ladies today," he said, eyeing the shop's manager across the bar with a sarcastic grin.

Daisuke felt shivers run down his spine as his back was being stared at.

"We were pretty excited when we saw the ad," another one of the girls said. "It said a lot of cute things about tonight's mystery host."

"We've been wondering how he'd look like until we saw you. Who knew the description would actually be so on point!"

"Oh, right! Please take these chocolates!" one of the girls handed Syaoran a cute blue paperbag embellished with ribbons.

Though confused, he still accepted the gift. But he wondered what might have brought them to give him such a thing when it wasn't even Valentine's. Plus, they were in a club. Was it normal for clients to give hosts chocolates out of the blue?

"The ad says you love them."

"O-Oh, the ad did? ...What a wonderful _surprise_." He gave the club manager yet another killing glare before returning to face the girls with a gentle smile. "Right. Thanks for this, beautiful."

Syaoran didn't really want to know what else the ad said about him, but he was a little curious as to what it could be after hearing the girls' comments. "So what else did that 'ad' say that about me? I'm quite intrigued... Could you maybe let me in on the rest of the details?" he pretended to flirt, inching his face closer to Chiharu.

"O-Oh! Um... sure..." Chiharu, blushing, nervously took out her phone and searched for the shop's page in FaceLook. She later handed him her phone to show him the actual post. "This here's the ad," she said, pointing at the picture.

Sounds of bones cracking floated in the air.

 _'What the fu—'_

Syaoran could barely crush the phone in his hand as he was reading the _supposed_ description of the mystery host, a.k.a. **HIM**.

 _ **Have a whole new experience with our special Mystery Host!**  
_ _Only available this coming Friday from 4PM to 12AM_

 _Feast your eyes in a whole new definition of "handsomely manly". His tantalizing eyes and gorgeous smile will make you melt in just one fell swoop!_

 _Let your gazes fall into an infinite whirlpool of "hot" when you meet his face... and his bodeh..._

He shivered as he read the first part of the ad. It was hard to tell if Daisuke was able to write that ad because of his own attraction towards his abs or maybe he was just too stupidly creative to even come up with such ridiculous phrases.

He surely hoped it was the latter.

He was starting to feel nervous about how more ridiculous the next part would be, but he decided to push himself and read some more.

 _About our special host of the night:  
_ _He loves chocolates.  
_ _He has a gentle (and flirtatious) character.  
_ _The deep color of his eyes will take you in completely.  
_ _He oozes a lot of manly pheromones.  
_ _He knows everything that has got to do with 'tanned scrumptious meat'._

 _'Tanned scrumptious meat? He couldn't be referring to my...'_ Syaoran pinched his nose in his frustration. _'I can't bear to read any more of this crap.'_

"Anon-san? Are you okay?" Chiharu asked him worriedly. The disgust on his face must have started to show already.

Syaoran forced out a laugh before quickly returning the phone to her. "Please take it back. I think I've had enough internet for today."

Everything he read was just absolutely cringe-worthy. He wasn't sure if he still had enough patience and self-control to read the rest of what was written in the image post.

"So, is it true, anon-san?" asked Chiharu.

He tried to recompose himself and smiled. "What is?"

Nakuru inched a bit forward to him with a playful grin. "The girls and I were just recently chatting about the last part of the ad. About your 'active sex life'." And she smiled teasingly. "Must be fun."

The chestnut-haired man fell silent.

He let out a very suppressed and dry laugh. "I wonder about that." His smile slowly cracked as a grim thought appeared in his head.

 _'Daisuke... I swear I'm going to murder you.'_

Wanting to divert their attention to something else other than his overly-sexualized body and his sex life, he finally decided to ask, "So, anyway, what would you girls like to drink?"

* * *

"Sakura's taking a bit long..."

Syaoran heard Chiharu say as he was returning to the girls' table with a tray of their drinks.

 _'Sakura?'_

He handed each one of the girls a glass half-filled with ice and began to pour wine into each one of them as the sound of the name kept repeating in his head. He knew only _one_ girl named 'Sakura' in his life so far, and he was confident that she definitely wouldn't be the same person the group of girls were talking about. After all, the 'Sakura' he knew wasn't the sort of person to come visit a place like Mucho Macho.

—Or at least, that was what he thought of her.

"Maybe I should go look for her?" the brunette with short and wavy hair looked worried.

"Don't worry, Sasaki-san. She'll be back soon," Nakuru said. "I'm sure it was her brother who called. He's probably taking his time lecturing her. He's got quite the sister complex, in a way."

"Speaking of Sakura, she's coming over right now!" Chiharu exclaimed excitingly when she saw her friend walking back to their table.

"Oh." Nakuru gently shoved Syaoran's hand when he was about to fill the last glass with wine. "Please don't fill this glass. That girl's brother will kill me if I let her drink in a place like this."

"I... I see." Syaoran was starting to feel a little similarity between this Sakura and the Sakura he knew. Back in the days, he used to overhear Sakura complaining to Tomoyo in the classroom about her protective brother. "Would some juice suffice?"

"Yes, that will do."

He smiled. "Got it."

And at the moment he turned his head, both he and the girl named 'Sakura' immediately froze upon first glance. At a single glance, he found a similarity in the way she looked. That auburn hair, those emerald eyes, and that same shy look on her face. She could have been a different person, but no. Everything about her looked and felt _all too familiar_.

When he finally realized that his eyes were definitely not deceiving him, he became completely startled, and more so horrified, at the thought that someone he personally knew came and saw him in the most embarrassing night of his life.

Unless—

...She forgot about him...

"Li-ku—"

 _'Okay. Crap. She remembers!'_

"So you're the lovely lady your friends call 'Sakura'!"

He had to cut her off. He wouldn't dare let her say the rest of his name.

"Glad you're here to join us, _hime-chan_ ~"

"E-Eh?"

The auburn-haired girl later fell into an awkward laugh as she found her seat beside her short wavy-haired friend. She probably noticed the tone in his voice, and how much he wanted to stop her from saying anything unnecessary. She brought her head down, obviously doing her best to avoid his gaze.

 _'Why'd she have to be here...'_ he later grumbled in his thoughts as he was pretending to enjoy the drinks with the other girls. He wasn't only annoyed that someone who knew him had to appear in the worst time. He was also startled to see her in that kind of place, and wondered if the seemingly innocent-faced girl he had known in the past actually became interested in such a thing.

But despite feeling unsettled in his current situation, he couldn't help but tilt the corner of his lips into a small smile. Her hair was longer, he noticed, being that it finally grew beyond her shoulders, just a little above her chest. Her bangs weren't too long and were also neatly swept to the side, enough to show the beauty of her eyes. Back in middle school, she would always sport that short hairstyle with thick full bangs. Surprisingly, when he met her in the same high school, she also retained the same hairstyle. Not that he didn't like it. It was also cute before.

 _'But she looks so much prettier now...'_

Suddenly, he was reminded of the situation he was in. He may have managed to stop her from saying his name, but he still had another problem to take care of. He needed to find a way to make sure she would never spill out anything about their chance meeting and, most especially, his very presence in that obnoxiously muscle-filled den in the middle of the red light district.

If anyone from his family found out about that night, he couldn't imagine the worst that could become of him. He was already disowned in the middle of his college life after his endless rebellions against his family's hopes and future plans for him. But it never meant he was off the Li family's radar. Any trouble he'd create could still stain the Li name and their large-scale business. And should that time come, he would hate to be summoned by his family again.

His head started to sweat, thinking of a proper way to explain his situation and coax Sakura from spouting anything about seeing him that night. And when he saw her stand and overheard her saying that she was going to the comfort room, he just knew that it was possibly the best time to go and confront her. But he was nervous. And blood was rushing into his head. It had been so long since they had a proper conversation. It would be fine if she was just some random classmate from before. It would be so much easier for him to talk to her. But that wasn't the case.

In his past, Sakura was a special presence to him.

He knew he had to muster his courage. So he stood up, excused himself from the girls, and rushed to the backroom to find anything that would cover his top.

And finally, he went to where Sakura was.

At that very moment, Syaoran didn't know that things were about to turn for the worse later in the night. He had no idea that they would have another awkward meeting in the next days to come. And he had absolutely no clue that the chances he once lost to get to know her more would return to him by fate or mere luck.

He didn't know that that very night was only the beginning of a whole new different chapter of their lives.

* * *

 _Present day..._

"So?"

"What 'so'?"

Eriol sat on the corner of Syaoran's desk. "Where did you go with my SUV? And returning it so late in the night. Or should I say, _early in the morning_?"

"Can we please talk about that later, shachou- _sama_? I'm busy."

He snickered. "My secretary's being very polite today."

"Shut up."

Syaoran was currently occupied with arranging the new list of schedules he had to set for their company president after having been bombarded with calls from numerous potential company partners and clients alike. But as much as he would like to concentrate, his lack of sleep kept driving his thoughts elsewhere, more specifically, to dreamland. And to add to that, having his annoying boss around, who did no more than criticize his work and tease him at the same time, was of no help at all.

"Syaoran, you typed Tanaka-san's name wrong," Eriol said, pointing at another mistake his secretary made as he was writing an invitation.

"Fuck—er, I mean... Right, got it. Thanks." He moved his face closer to the computer monitor as he was writing the rest of the letter. His tired and sore eyes were beginning to squint as he tried to force his brain and eye muscles to work to the bone. After he finally finished writing the invitation letter that also explained a project proposal, he took off his glasses and sat his back on the chair, heaving a sigh. "Shachou, could you check?"

Eriol moved the computer monitor to his direction and stooped down a little to read the letter. He held a very cool expression on his face while he was at it, making it hard enough for Syaoran to distinguish if there was anything wrong in the letter he wrote or if everything was just right.

"Syaoran," Eriol called as he fixed his glasses atop his nose.

"Yes?"

"You really should have just stayed in Mucho Macho."

Syaoran's eyes twitched. "Should I take that seriously or is that a metaphor?"

Eriol softly laughed and ruffled Syaoran's hair before he passed behind his chair and walked towards the door to his own office. "You should take the rest of the day off and get more sleep. The letter you just wrote proves you really need it. I also took a peak at the list you made. It was kind of a mess."

Syaoran looked down with downcast eyes. "I'll go get coffee instead. I wouldn't want the others to think I'm being treated specially just because I'm your friend."

"Maybe I wasn't making myself clear." Eriol placed a hand on his forehead and sighed. "Then, I'm going to say this as your boss. You're performing quite terribly today so I'd rather you go home and take a rest. If I let you stay here any longer, you're just going to make more problems for us, most especially for me. I wouldn't want to hear another complaint from one of our prospective clients just because I wasn't able to attend our 'supposed' meeting, which, must I remind you, is something you forgot to add to my schedule last week when you also looked as tired as you are now."

Syaoran became completely stunned and speechless.

His boss's words could sometimes sound too frank whenever he talked like the president he should be. He was normally soft-voiced and calm, but when the situation truly required it, he would immediately shift to his strict and serious counterpart. And he was often that way with Syaoran lately.

Eriol's words may have stung him a bit, but he understood where his boss was coming from. He was a little hesitant at first to follow Eriol's advice, but he was also self-aware that his exhaustion was already reaching its limit.

"Alright, I understand. Thanks for today then, shachou."

Eriol finally showed his victorious grin. "That's a good boy."

Syaoran rolled his eyes. He hated it whenever Eriol treated him like a well-behaved dog.

After he went and took his coat, he realized that he was missing his key card to the condo. He looked around every place in the building where he might have possibly dropped it, but to no avail. Giving up, he returned to the top floor where both his and Eriol's office were located.

Eriol looked surprised to see Syaoran return after a mere few minutes. "Don't tell me you're still planning on staying for work."

"No, not that... I couldn't find my key card."

Instead of making a light joke of his friend's situation like he always did, Eriol looked at him with more concern. "You've really been a mess this whole day. You even lost your key card." He briefly took off his glasses to rubbed his nose off of his frustration and quickly put them back. "I know you've been very tired since last week, which is why I told you to just give Sunday a rest. But what did you do? You left yesterday past five in the morning and returned at around three or four AM today, giving you just about one to two hours of sleep. Are you trying to destroy yourself?"

"It's not that..." Syaoran muttered, his voice slowly falling.

"Syaoran, talk to me." Eriol sighed tiredly, taking off his glasses once again and finally placing them on his desk. "Is this about Meiling? I know she's been calling you lately about returning to them. Is that the reason you've been out of it? I can talk to your family again for you, if you want. Just please stop going home late, wasting and tiring yourself out like yesterday."

Syaoran ran a hand through his hair as his face scrunched in annoyance. "I wasn't wasting the night with some girls like I did before, alright? But it's true, I've been spending a few nights out. Though this time, I was just walking around or eating at random stands near the condo. I only wanted a breather. And about yesterday..." He averted his eyes while trying to come up with a few words. "Yesterday was different."

Eriol's eyes looked at him intently while he crossed his arms. "Please do enlighten me."

Syaoran ended up raising his hands, finally wanting to give up. He would hate to hear more lectures from his mother of a friend. "Fine. I'll tell you where I brought your car. I helped the Kimono's, alright? With some kind of housework."

"Kinomoto?" Eriol paused to think. "Wait—you don't mean _that_ girl? Could you be talking about _that_ Kinomoto?"

"Y-Yes..." Syaoran looked away embarrassed after he realized what he just confessed. "She... needed my help."

His friend looked utterly speechless at first but his face soon formed a huge grin. "Haha, wow... I see... alright. I understand now," Eriol said, finally feeling relaxed. "So you met her again, hm? But you should have just told her you were busy or some other excuse. You needed the break."

"You know full well that I couldn't let that chance slip by." Syaoran shyly scratched his head and looked away, trying to hide the blush on his face. "Besides, yesterday was good therapy. It took my mind off a lot of troublesome things."

Eriol smiled happily as he watched his friend. "So, how was it?"

"Huh?"

"How was it? Spending a whole day with her?" Eriol said smiling, placing his hands together over his desk as he inched forward, interested to know the details. "Did you have fun?"

Syaoran rubbed the back of his neck. He looked down into the distance with a warm smile as he recalled how he got to enjoy the longest time he was able to spend with Sakura so far. "After yesterday, I realized something..."

 _'I really missed her.'_

* * *

If there was one thing Syaoran dreaded about going home earlier, it was that he had to commute back home. Usually, Eriol would share him a ride to and from work since he was currently living in the same condominium space as his boss-slash-friend. But now that he had to leave work earlier and since he didn't bring his own car, he really had not much of a choice.

Eriol ended up letting Syaoran borrow his key card under the condition that he would have to make sure to stay awake when Eriol goes home. But he wasn't confident he'd be able to keep himself awake so he also asked his friend to give him a wake up call before heading home.

He looked at his watch and noticed that it was already hours past lunch break. He started to wonder if there was still any possibility he could run into Sakura buying lunch or eating outside even though it was already that late. Their office buildings were _only a few blocks away_. It could be a pretty long walk from each other, but even so... it was still _only a few blocks away_ , he kept convincing himself. It was possible for them to pass by each other midway anytime. One could never know when luck could fall upon them.

Since he still hadn't eaten anything for lunch, he stopped by a convenience store to get himself a quick bento box to eat at home. There were many choices to choose from, but he couldn't really care less. After all, convenience store food weren't so much of a delight to him. For Syaoran, their only purpose was to fill up his empty stomach. He wouldn't really call himself choosy per se since he would actually eat anything that looked edible. But growing up in an affluent environment most likely caused his taste buds to be more difficult to please. Dim sum and sushi were an exception though.

As he lined up by the cashier, waiting to be attended, he took out his phone from his pocket and checked for any missed calls or unread messages. There wasn't anything new, and particularly nothing from Sakura.

 _'Why would she even contact me at this hour?'_ he sighed as he thought to himself. He felt even more dispirited when he also asked himself why Sakura would even want to contact him at all.

The two of them were done with the favors. He already paid back her kindness in keeping the 'secret' to herself by helping her family the other day. With that said, she wouldn't have any more reason to call him again.

But he liked hearing her voice.

He recalled the other day when Sakura called him so early in the morning. Her voice was soft, shy and really awkward. He couldn't stop grinning the whole time they were on the phone. She was cute, was what he thought. Many years may have passed since he last heard her voice, but he could tell that she was still the same kind-hearted Sakura he knew back then.

"That would be 400 yen, sir."

"H-Huh?"

The cashier gave Syaoran a weird look. "The bento set. It's 400 yen, please."

"Ah! Right..." Syaoran snapped, finally returning back to reality. As he was taking out his wallet, a thought suddenly went into his head. _'What if I called Sakura?'_ Instead of waiting for a miracle that she'd call him, he could instead ask her out to lunch. She was most likely still in her office after all. _'But what if she already ate?'_ His thoughts were all muddled inside his head.

"Sir? Your payment, please?" the cashier was starting to get annoyed.

"Oh, uh... I won't be paying."

The cashier looked at him incredulously. "Excuse me?"

Syaoran turned red in his embarrassment. "W-What I meant was—I'll be returning this! Sorry for the trouble!"

After he went and returned the bento back to its shelf, Syaoran took out his phone again. He scrolled through the long list of names in his phonebook until he found the name 'Kinomoto Sakura'.

 _Breathe in. Breathe out._

"Okay... Let's do this."

And he finally pressed the call button.

* * *

 _Bzzzt! Bzzzt!_

"GenMax will be sending someone over by Wednesday to check the progress of the website," Nakuru said to her team as she was looking over some documents. "Aside from the UI, what else is ready for presentation?"

"I think we can go over the static pages," Chiharu said. "They're the easiest to build, so the QA team won't have too much problems with that."

 _Bzzzt! Bzzzt!_

"Alright. Other than that? Anything more impressive to show them?"

Another one from the team walked towards his computer and scanned through the unfinished code snippets on his computer. "I'll see if I can finish working on this part of the..."

 _Bzzzt! Bzzzt!_

Sakura kept fidgeting on her toes as her phone continued to vibrate inside her pocket. She wanted to excuse herself for even a minute just to answer the call and tell whoever it was to call back later. But she was a little embarrassed to speak up, most especially since Nakuru hated being interrupted during their stand-up meetings.

 _Bzzzt! Bzzzt!_

"Kinomoto-san," Takashi called out to her in a low voice, elbowing her on the arm. "Is that your phone vibrating?"

"Y-Yeah," she whispered back. "Is it too loud?"

"Not really. But don't you wanna answer that?"

Sakura shook her head. "You know Akizuki-san doesn't like being interrupted."

"Don't worry. I'll cover for you."

Sakura took a quick careful glance at Nakuru and one of the developers who were discussing on the unfinished store page of the website. "Is it okay?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it. I'm sure the meeting's gonna be finished right after they're done talking about the store page."

"Okay, thanks Yamazaki-senpai!"

Sakura quietly sneaked out of the area and ran to the small pantry on the same floor. She smiled thinking how her senpai at work could actually be so kind and dependable at crucial times, despite his idiotic smiling and carefree attitude.

As soon as she reached for her phone, she was surprised to see Tomoyo's name appear on the screen. Her best friend rarely called her at that hour, knowing that she might be busy at work. Sakura anxiously wondered what could be making Tomoyo call her all of a sudden.

"Hello? Tomo-chan?"

"Sakura-chan! Are you busy? Did I disturb you?"

"N-Not really! I'm good," Sakura nervously said as she scratched her cheek. She wouldn't want to let Tomoyo know the truth, knowing that it would worry her a lot.

"That's great! I worried there for a moment. But never mind that! I have something I really, _really_ need to tell you."

Sakura became curious about the tension hidden beneath her friend's high-pitched voice. "What is it? Did something happen?"

"Do you remember what I told you about yesterday? About the photograph session I had to go to?"

"Oh, right!" Sakura said remembering the plans she cancelled with Tomoyo. "I was supposed to go with you yesterday. Sorry about that."

"No worries! I understand you had to help your father," Tomoyo assured her. "Anyway, I thought it was just a regular photoshoot arranged by okaa-san. But then I found out this morning that it was going to be my matchmaking photo!"

"Hoeee!" Sakura couldn't believe her ears.

"Crazy, right?" Tomoyo complained. "No wonder I was dressed in a kimono. It was so surprising that I just had to tell you immediately!"

"But why all of a sudden?"

"Looks like we're already at that age," Tomoyo said despondently. "And my family owns a big business so an heir is much expected. Okaa-san said she sees me having only little interest in relationships so she had to make a choice."

"And so, she ended up making _that_ choice, huh..." Sakura couldn't exactly agree with the sentiment that being around their age should compel a person to find a partner. Growing up, her father always told her that both time and heart must work together to find one's special someone. But she supposed it was different for people bearing huge responsibilities like her best friend. "So, what do you plan to do now?"

"Okaa-san said she already arranged for me to meet someone next weekend. And that's the other reason why I called you," Tomoyo said.

"W-What do you want me to do?"

"Please come with me, Sakura-chaaan!"

"HOEEEE?!"

"Pleaaaase," Tomoyo begged again. "We're going to meet in a family restaurant so maybe you could sit somewhere near our table."

"But why bring me?"

"I'll need your opinion on the guy as well! I'll make sure to get a lounge table so you can safely snoop behind us."

"I don't know, Tomo-chan... It feels like I'll be intruding on someone's privacy," Sakura commented, feeling both guilty and scared of what she was being asked to do.

"You won't be intruding because I'm giving you permission."

"Oh, Kami-sama..." Sakura slapped her forehead.

"Please, Sakura-chan? For me?"

After a few moments debating with herself, Sakura furrowed her brows and finally gave in saying, "Okay, fine..."

"Yaaaaay! Thanks, Sakura-chan! I'll contact you again soon for the rest of the details."

And with that, the call finally ended.

Sakura dragged herself to the nearest chair and sighed exasperatedly as she heavily dropped her bottom to the seat. Many thoughts immediately went into her head after her conversation with Tomoyo. Just recently, she had been enjoying her chances of meeting Syaoran. Her heart was beginning to experience the same excitement she had in middle school when she first realized that she had fallen in love with him. And she felt so much younger again. But after learning of Tomoyo's arranged marriage meetings, she was suddenly dragged back from her dreamworld to reality: a twenty-five boyfriendless-since-birth adult, working in a company, blending in with the rest of the middle-class society.

"Like Tomo-chan said... Maybe we really _are_ already at that age..." she muttered to herself.

When she felt her phone vibrate once, she thought it was Tomoyo, sending her the details on the exact time and place of her 'reconnaissance mission'. But as soon as she opened the screen and saw the name 'Idiot Muscle Host', she was immediately brought back to life to her shock. It was only then that she noticed that Syaoran had already sent her many messages, probably from the time her phone started vibrating from Tomoyo's call.

 _02:31 PM  
_ _Idiot Muscle Host: Hey sakura! You busy? I tried calling but i couldnt reach you  
_ _Idiot Muscle Host: I know its late but was wondering if you ate lunch already? Im hungry hehe_

 _02:35 PM  
_ _Idiot Muscle Host: I haven't eaten yet and i got off early from work  
_ _Idiot Muscle Host: Let me know if you wanna join. My treat_

 _02:47 PM  
_ _Idiot Muscle Host: Im walking to your office while finding a nice place to eat. Let me know if you're good_

 _02:53 PM  
_ _Idiot Muscle Host: You must be busy huh. Sorry if im disturbing you...  
_ _Idiot Muscle Host: I'll be eating here at Starbux. Ground flr of the building across yours_

 _02:58 PM  
_ _Idiot Muscle Host: Join me when you're hungry, k? Im bored by myself haha_

"HOEEEEE!"

Sakura panicked. She didn't notice Syaoran was trying to contact her for that long! And her brooding and self-contemplating even added to the time he had to wait!

She quickly texted back: _Sorry, Li-kun! Just read them now! Be there soon!_ ミヽ（。＞＜）ノ

"Kinomoto-saaaan," Takashi called as he peeked in to the pantry. "Meeting's been over a while ago. You can safely go back now."

"SEEEEENPAAAAAIIIIII!" Sakura and her close-to-tearful face dashed at Yamazaki and gave him a quick embrace. She then clapped her hands together and tightly closed her eyes as she horribly begged, "Please let me off for a few more minutes!"

"Hmmm..." Takashi rubbed his chin. "As your senpai, it is my duty and my responsibility to ensure our kouhais work properly and efficiently."

"But you let me off just a while ago?" Sakura reacted, starting to get confused about the direction of her senpai's 'sense of responsibility'. "A-Anyway... Please! Just for today! I'll stay late to make up for lost time! Promise!"

"Help me with Mihara-san and it's a deal."

And Sakura shook hands with him without a second thought. "Deal!"

* * *

"Late."

Sakura was panting heavily as she dropped to her seat across a dark brown-haired man, crossed-leg on his own seat while busy fiddling with his phone.

"Sorry! I'm... finally here... Li... kun..." Sakura greeted in between her breaths.

" _Pfft._ " Finally, Syaoran's eyes looked at her from above the screen of his phone. "What happened to you? Were you chased by some wild boar or something?"

"I panicked, okay?!" Sakura retorted before drooping herself over the table. "I didn't notice you were trying to contact me until a while ago. Sorry for making you wait," she said apologetically as she slightly raised her face from the table.

"Don't worry about it. You were at work so I get it. By the way," he pointed a finger at her hair and continued, "some of your bangs are standing."

"W-What? Really?" Sakura quickly went to get her phone to check her reflection on the screen.

"Must have turned like that while you were rushing to get here," he said, laughing.

"Oh, geesh... This is so embarrassing." Her face turned red as she was fixing her hair.

"Anyway," Syaoran said as he was trying to pick his wallet from his briefcase, "hungry?"

Sakura looked at him regretfully. "Sorry, Li-kun, but I already ate..."

Syaoran became wide-eyed for a brief moment, caught by surprise. And he laughed it off later while letting go of the wallet, realizing how stupid he was for forgetting. "Yeah, figures. Just thought it wouldn't hurt to try and ask."

"But wait a minute! You mentioned in your message that you got off early from work?" Sakura asked out of curiosity.

Syaoran embarrassedly rubbed the back of his neck. "More like I was sent off early. I was making a lot of mistakes earlier."

"Oh my gosh..." Sakura covered her mouth. "I'm so sorry! It's my fault! It's because of yesterday, isn't it?"

Syaoran smiled. "Don't worry about it. I was really happy you asked for my help yesterday. I was trying to find a way out of my misery."

"Misery? Are you having problems with someone? With your family? Or from work?"

Syaoran noticed the gloom starting to appear on her face. He waved off her worries and chuckled. "It's really nothing to be worried about. But thanks, anyway, Sakura."

"I-If you say so..." Sakura still looked at him worriedly. Something told her he wasn't completely fine at all. "Then, since we're already here, I'll go get myself something to drink. How about you? Americano?"

"Yeah, sounds nice. _You're_ paying?" he joked.

"Yes. Be right back!" And Sakura quickly ran off to the counter.

"W-WAIT!" Syaoran shouted, quickly standing up to catch up to her. He didn't expect her to go that fast. "Sakura! I was just kidding! And I already ate!"

 _Later..._

"You didn't have to treat me..." Syaoran quietly said as he was slowly spinning the spoon on his cup of coffee. "Thanks, though."

"It's for everything you did for us yesterday," Sakura cheerfully said and took a sip of her strawberry milk tea.

"Are we going to keep returning favors?" Syaoran laughed. "This will never end."

Sakura laughed along with him.

As she was taking another sip of her drink, she noticed Syaoran's deadpan eyes as he continuously played with the spoon on his coffee. Her eyes glanced a bit at his cup and found out that he hadn't seem to take even a sip just yet. She worried if there was really something weighing on his mind.

"Li-kun, is something wrong? You haven't drank your coffee at all. If something's troubling you, maybe I can help? You can talk to me about it."

Syaoran irritably scratched his head. "Hey, Sakura. You've been calling me 'Li-kun' for a while now. Did you forget what we agreed on yesterday?"

"Ah! R-Right! Sorry..." Sakura noticed how he clearly dodged her question. But other than that, she felt embarrassed about the first names. She honestly almost forgot about the deal they made. "Then, uhm, I'll call you Syaoran?"

He smiled. "That's right." He finally took his cup of coffee and brought it to his lips. He quickly stuck his tongue out after having drank too much, realizing that it was still too hot. "W-What?" he laughed asking when he saw Sakura holding in her chuckles.

"You forgot it was still hot?"

"I'm already _too hot_. What else is there to notice?"

Sakura laughed even more as she covered her face, feeling too embarrassed for him. "Oh my, Kami-sama..."

"Can't handle it?"

"Please stoooop!"

Syaoran laughed at her funny reaction. "Yeah, I'll stop. Just thought it would make you laugh."

After setting aside the cup, he crossed his arms on the table and laid his head down, looking far across Sakura. Again, Sakura noticed, his eyes suddenly became expressionless as he was staring off into the distance. He looked tired. And it was probably not just because of the other day. Something else was wearing him out.

"Li-kun—I-I mean, Syaoran! Maybe you should head home. You look really exhausted."

"Hmm... Just a few more minutes." And he closed his eyes.

"Uhm, okay..."

Sakura obediently followed and sat still on her seat. She would gaze at him from time to time and wondered if he was sleeping? Or just pretending to take a nap with his eyes closed? And from time to time, she would also look at her watch, then glance at the building across the cafe. She didn't take note of the time when she got there. And she hadn't noticed how short or long had already passed since she stayed there with him.

At that moment, when Sakura was starting to get conscious of the time, Syaoran had already opened his eyes, watching her quietly. He noticed her gestures and the worry she carried on her face. After seeing her like that, he finally sat back up and ruffled his hair.

"Sorry, I must be troubling you," he said, feeling guilt-ridden.

Sakura quickly shook her head, her face turning red. She worried if she looked too obvious a while ago. "N-No! Not at all!"

"Come on, don't lie," Syaoran said, chuckling. "I noticed you kept staring at your watch and looking over at your office across the street."

"Sorry..." Sakura shyly brought her head down.

"Please, don't. I'm the one who owes you an apology for keeping you here." And he smiled. "But thanks, Sakura. I feel better now. I guess going out of my way to see you was the right choice."

Sakura became speechless. Only her cheeks responded with a blush.

Syaoran finally stood up and took his briefcase. "Come on, I'll take you back."

Sakura waved her hands. "Oh, you really don't have to. It's just across the street."

"Let me do at least this much in exchange for the coffee." He smiled warmly. "Consider it a return of favor. And once we get there, you can think of something else again to also return the favor to me."

"This will really never end, huh?" Sakura asked and softly laughed.

"Yeah, maybe not," he said half-jokingly and smiled. _'I hope it never will.'_

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

Yes, yes, YES! FINALLY I'M DONE WITH THIS FREAKING CHAPTER!

Sorry about the late upload! I was supposed to upload last week (to follow my once-a-month upload sched), but I had to revise a lot of things in this chapter. You won't believe just how many versions I came up with just to make a good follow-up to the previous chappie. And a special thanks to **Nami** (who commented for chapter 2) for giving me some great ideas!

As you might have noticed, this chapter focuses more on Syaoran's POV. This is to start giving readers an idea about his background and side of the story. I don't want to rush things. I want to make the flow of their relationship grow as naturally as possible.

Anyway, once again, I hope you guys liked the story. More secrets and twists await! Feel free to leave a review! Makes me happy to know how readers feel ;)


End file.
